The UK Government’s decision to designate data centers as Critical National Infrastructure exemplifies their growing importance in our modern, digital world. To safeguard these facilities in the event of an emergency, it is imperative that fire strategies are routinely reviewed and updated.
In any building design, it is essential that the means of escape is thoroughly considered in relation to the building’s layout and occupants. As a result of the large number of servers, associated power supplies and cooling equipment contained within a data center, the buildings generally have a large footprint, increasing the length of the travel distances which make up the escape routes.
In this article, we will review how the long escape routes within data centers, and the challenges they present, can be carefully considered in a bespoke fire strategy.
The Challenges
Owing to their unique function, the layout of data centers is different to most commercial buildings. As a result of this, these differences must be considered when designing the layout of fire escape routes within the building. The server racks within the data halls are typically arranged into rows creating aisles; this arrangement can result in the escape routes increasing in distance, particularly in large data halls. Furthermore, the aisle design impacts the visibility of escape signage and exits from a data hall. A simple thing such as aisle arrangements, if not understood correctly, can directly contribute to the extension of travel distances within a data center building and have major impacts on the required fire safety provisions.
An escape route in a data center is further complicated by the way in which personnel work within the building. While the number of people typically working within a data center is low, often fewer than sixty people, personnel tend to be distributed throughout the building. This includes occupants who may be located on any external gantries and the roof, both of which often house critical equipment for the data center. These arrangements must be appropriately assessed when designing the means of escape throughout data centers to ensure that all occupants are able to evacuate swiftly and safely regardless of their location within the facility.
Effective Fire Safety Engineering
While these challenges mean that the travel distance of an escape route is unavoidably longer, a fire engineering team is able to mitigate these difficulties through adapting the data center’s fire strategy. The risk profile of a building dictates the fire safety provisions required within the building, including the travel distance limitations. Therefore, if the risk profile is determined to be low, the travel distance limits are increased. The risk profile can be deemed lower, for example, by considering fire safety provisions such as suppression systems.
Other characteristics of data centers which could be considered to contribute to a lower fire risk are an enhanced level of automatic fire detection and alarm, the presence of high ceilings, high levels of building security and management, a limited amount of combustible material within the building and the fact that data centers are predominantly constructed using non-combustible materials. In addition, there are adaptations to the design of a data center that can help reduce the challenge of long fire escape routes. Fire resisting construction which is otherwise required for life safety and property protection purposes within the building can be strategically utilised to form adequate fire compartments that allow occupants to escape the building using alternative egress principles, such as progressive horizontal evacuation. By evacuating personnel to a place of relative safety within the building, occupants are isolated from the area of higher fire risk before making their final escape to a place of absolute safety as part of a managed evacuation route. This ensures that occupants are still able to evacuate quickly and safely while not compromising on the design and functionality of the building itself or lessening the buildings’ security. This approach, when paired with the security requirements for data centers draws parallels from similar strategies in other sectors, such as healthcare, airports, or retail, where the safety of building occupants and security requirements have a similar interrelationship.
Our Expertise
It is especially key that for every project involving data centers, the relevant stakeholders such as the building control body, fire service authority, security consultant and insurers, are involved as early as possible. This is and has always been a priority for Joule Group, resulting in a well proven record of positive stakeholder engagement. By doing so, all potential challenges that data centers pose are appropriately considered at every stage, meaning that the building’s design and performance is not compromised and is properly prepared for the unlikely case of an emergency event.
Get In Touch
To learn more about how Joule Group’s fire safety expertise could help you better protect your data center project, please get in touch with us at info@joule-group.com.